Attorney: Doctors say Andrea Yates is ready for group outings

By Craig Hlavaty |
February 15, 2014

Doctors for Andrea Yates, the Clear Lake mother who killed her five children in 2001, recommended this week that she be allowed to attend group outings with other patients at the state psychiatric hospital where she has been since a 2006 retrial found her innocent be reason of insanity, according to her attorney.

Yates, now 49, was initially convicted of capital murder for the drowning deaths of Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke 2, and Mary, 6 months, in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison. An appeals court granted the new trial after which she became an inpatient at Kerrville State Hospital.

She's the only patient at the facility who has never received a group-outing pass, said George Parnham, her attorney.

A teleconference call between a judge, Parnham and staff at Kerrville state hospital had been scheduled for Friday, but it was canceled because Parnham was unable to participate. Parnham said Saturday that he doesn't anticipate the meeting being rescheduled until Yates' next annual evaluation in the fall.

"The doctors recommended (Yates) could benefit from passes for a couple of hours to attend picnics with other patients," said Parnham, adding that the outings would be part of Yates' ongoing rehabilitation and that she would be accompanied by guards and staff at all times.